First off, I wanted to say that what you do here Glenn is awesome. Having a resource that people can use to get educated advice from is really helpful.

My situation is this. Two years ago I had an evaluation and consultation with a highly respected doctor in my area to discuss LASIK. Two friends of mine went to this same doctor and had amazing results. I was given a battery of tests to make sure I was a good candidate. Though I was not given a copy of the results, I was told I could do WaveScan CustomView.

Last year when I had my annual eye exam with my O.D. I was told that I was not a candidate because of my level of astigmatism. My prescription is:

I am confused why my O.D. would say I am not a candidate and the LASIK doctor said,"no problem." I did call the doctor back regarding what my O.D. said and asked them why they thought my O.D. would say that and they said they were not sure. They said that my type of correction is very common and they correct that type of vision every day.

This is one of those situations where both doctors are right, even though they have opposing opinions.

Your refractive error is within the treatable range of the Visx S4 CustomVue, however your astigmatism is very high and high astigmatism is much more difficult to correct with any laser system.

In addition to the issue of high astigmatism, there is a coupling effect that will cause myopic (nearsighted, shortsighted) correction automatically with astigmatic correction. See Lasik Astigmatism for details.

Considering your high astigmatism, low myopia, and the coupling effect, I believe the probability of a less than ideal outcome - even overcorrection into hyperopia (farsighted, longsighted) vision - is elevated. I recommend that you seek the opinion of another surgeon or two, preferably at least one who is affiliated with a university teaching hospital.

Thanks for the prompt reply and the information you provided. You seem to echo the thoughts of my O.D. (whose judgement I value very much). The risk/reward of LASIK does not seem to be in my best interests.

I tried the "Helping Lasik Patients" link that you provided, but I get a response of,"The topic or post you requested does not exist." Just wanted to let you know.